Bayer Leverkusen prodigy Florian Wirtz has told of his dismal Rangers experience after his side lost 3-0 at Ibrox in a friendly on Saturday – stating that it 'hurt to breathe' in the cold Glaswegian winter weather.
Goals from Malik Tillman before half-time meant that victory was confirmed when Scott Arfield stroked the ball home with aplomb in the second half, with the game close to being 4-0 as a result of James Tavernier 's penalty hitting the post.
Leverkusen weren't at the races for most of the match, running out completely second best against the Light Blues in what was Michael Beale's first match in charge before his side host Hibs on Thursday evening in a bid to close the gap on league leaders and bitter rivals Celtic in the Scottish Premiership. But if they can produce a performance similar the level they did at the weekend, they could hurt Johnson's men – in similar fashion to how Wirtz was feeling, saying that his 'lungs were sore' because of the antarctic weather in Glasgow presently.
He said: "I'm exhausted and I am not in a good mood because it was a very disappointing game for us.
"I'm just not used to playing in a match like that because I've been out for nine months. And because it was so cold in Glasgow, my lungs are actually sore and it was hurting to breathe. But my knee felt good. It's just the cold that hurts me.
"It was good for me to be back on the pitch and I must continue to work hard. We all know we can play much better than that as a team. As the game went on, I realised how important it was for me to be back on the pitch."
Leverkusen currently sit 12th in the German Bundesliga; an uncharacteristically low finish for them after qualifying for the Champions League last season. Wirtz will be key to their successes; the 19-year-old has just come back from an ACL injury picked up in March, by which point he had already featured for Germany and scored 19 goals for Die Werkself.
